CityJet

CityJet
IATA ICAO Callsign
WX BCY CITY-IRELAND
Founded 1992
Commenced operations 1994
Hubs
Airport lounge Departure Lounge
Alliance SkyTeam (affiliate)
(when operating for Air France)
Subsidiaries Blue1
Fleet size 21
Destinations 18
Parent company Intro Aviation[2]
Headquarters Swords Business Campus
Swords, Ireland
Key people
  • Pat Byrne, Executive Chairman
  • Eugene Quigley, COO
  • Cathal O Connell, CCO
Website cityjet.com

CityJet is an Irish regional airline with headquarters in Swords, County Dublin.[3] It operates mainly out of London City Airport and operates under its own brand as well as wet-lease services on behalf of its partner Air France, which was the main owner until May 2014 when CityJet was sold to German owners Intro Aviation.[2] The airline also owns and operates maintenance facilities at Dublin Airport.

History

Early years

A CityJet Saab 2000 in 1998

The airline was established on 28 September 1992 and started scheduled operations on 12 January 1994. It was founded by Pat Byrne and began operations between London City Airport and Dublin under a franchise agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways. On 4 July 1997, the airline began operations on the route using its own identity, with Saab 2000 aircraft.

Initially, CityJet operated the Paris to London City service on behalf of Air France. In May 1999, in partnership with Air Foyle Ireland, Air France took a 25% equity stake in the airline. In February 2002, Air France assumed complete control.[4] The airline from this time was marketed as CityJet for Air France.

Geoffrey O’Byrne White replaced Jacques Bankir as CEO of CityJet in 2000, and held this position until 2010.

On 24 December 2007, Air France-KLM announced that it had signed an agreement for a full takeover of VLM Airlines NV from Panta Holdings[5] and announced on 28 May 2009 that VLM Airlines would gradually start to operate under the brand name CityJet. As of 1 June 2010, the whole VLM Airlines Fokker 50 fleet wore full CityJet livery, although VLM remained the owner of its own Airline Operators Certificate, and the Fokker 50 fleet is listed on the Belgian registry.

CityJet filed a pretax loss of €51.5 million for the year to the end of March 2010. This compared to a €53.9 million loss in the year to end March 2009. Revenues fell by 8 percent from €282.4 million to €258.9 million over the same period. Passenger numbers grew, climbing by 6.5 percent to 2.1 million, while average fares dropped by 16 percent.[6] Christine Ourmières joined as new chief executive on 1 October 2010. She has previously held a number of senior posts within the Air France-KLM group. In the IATA year ending 31 March 2010, CityJet carried just over 1 million passengers on its London City network.

Latest developments

In June 2012 it was announced that Air France-KLM was considering selling CityJet to support its own ailing business,[7] with a further statement in April 2013 that the winning bidder would be announced in the summer of 2013.[8]

As of October 2013 the operational agreement with Air France has been replaced by codesharing. CityJet since then operates most routes under its own WX code instead of Air France's.[9] In December 2013 Air France announced it would sell CityJet including VLM Airlines to German investor Intro Aviation. The transfer was completed in May 2014.[2][10] CityJet subsidiary VLM Airlines was bought by its own management and cut itself loose from CityJet. However, they will remain flying routes as ACMI operator for CityJet until at least Summer 2015.

In 2014, CityJet started a new codeshare with Guernsey based airline Blue Islands, after Blue Islands pulled out of selected European routes. Blue Islands would operate flights from Jersey to London City, and then passengers would get onto a CityJet operated flight to a European destination. [11]This ended in March 2016.[12]

It was announced in November 2014, that CityJet routes from Cardiff to Edinburgh and Paris-Orly were to be operated by Stobart Air from 1 December 2014.[13] However, both routes will cease by June 2015 since Flybe introduced flights the same routes from Cardiff, supported by the airports's operator.[14]

In June 2015, CityJet announced the termination of Dresden, the last of four German destinations, due to low demand.[15]

In October 2015, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced it would sell its Finnish subsidiary Blue1 to CityJet which however will continue to operate the company on behalf of SAS as part of a larger cooperation.[16][17]

Destinations

Main article: CityJet destinations

CityJet operates mainly under its own name with a codeshare-agreement with Air France and KLM[18] and additionally also operates some routes for Air France on a wetlease contract.[18] Its operations are focused at London-City and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. One of its main competitors is BA CityFlyer. Cityjet's main hub is London City Airport with many aircraft based there.

Fleet

CityJet Avro RJ85
CityJet Fokker 50
operated by VLM Airlines

As of 31 October 2015, the CityJet fleet consists of the following aircraft:[19]

CityJet Fleet[20]
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Y Total
Avro RJ85 18 — 95 95 To be replaced by Sukhoi Superjet 100 2016-2017
Bombardier CRJ900 3 5 90 90 Operated for Scandinavian Airlines[21]
Sukhoi Superjet 100 — 21 98 98 To replace the Avro RJ85 fleet. Deliveries begin May 2016[22][23][24]
Total 21 26

In addition to these aircraft, VLM Airlines operates the London-City to Antwerp route with Fokker 50 aircraft for CityJet.

Sponsorships

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.cityjet.com/news/cityjet-to-fly-new-aircraft-for-sas.shtml
  2. 1 2 3 "Air France confirms offer from Intro Aviation for CityJet, VLM - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  3. ↑ "CityJet." Air France. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Address: CityJet Ltd. Swords Business Campus Balheary Road Swords, Co. Dublin Ireland"
  4. ↑ CityJet wins Airline of the Year; CityJet.com
  5. ↑ Message on the VLM website announcing the takeover - access date 24 December 2007
  6. ↑ Irish Times article reporting filing of CityJet's annual accounts
  7. ↑ volaspheric: Air France-KLM considering to sell CityJet
  8. ↑ "Irish regional CityJet CEO impressed with bidders | Wales Air Forum". Walesairforum.wordpress.com. 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  9. ↑ "Cityjet to terminate Air France franchise agreement from October - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  10. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/transport-and-tourism/irish-based-airline-cityjet-finalises-sale-to-intro-aviation-1.1780044
  11. ↑ https://www.blueislands.com/flying-with-us/news/news-stories/blue-islands%E2%80%99-codeshare-with-cityjet
  12. ↑ https://blueislands.com
  13. ↑ Stobart Air
  14. ↑ "Cityjet pulls out of Cardiff in protest at Flybe routes". ch-aviation. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "aero.de - Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community". aero.de. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  16. ↑ businesswire.com - SAS Enters into Agreements with Cityjet for Wet Lease and Sale of Blue1 1 October 2015
  17. ↑ "CityJet to Fly New Aircraft For SAS". www.cityjet.com. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  18. 1 2 "Cityjet to terminate Air France franchise agreement from October - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  19. ↑ "Latest Register and Monthly Changes". Irish Aviation Authority. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "Cityjet Fleet Details and History". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  21. ↑ http://www.sasgroup.net/en/sas-enters-into-agreements-with-cityjet-for-wet-lease-and-sale-of-blue1/
  22. ↑ "CityJet to Receive Its First SSJ-100 in May". Russian Aviator Insider. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "CityJet to Take Delivery of 15 Superjet SSJ100". CityJet. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  24. ↑ http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/42515-cityjet-eyes-more-euro-white-label-contracts
  25. ↑ "Celebrates The Heineken Cup As Official Airline Of The Leinster Team". CityJet. Retrieved 2014-03-07.

Bibliography

External links

Media related to CityJet at Wikimedia Commons

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